


Safe Word

by SilverWolf7



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Assault, BDSM, Betrayal, Caning, Chloe Does Not Listen To Lucifer, Chloe is a Bad Dom, Crying Lucifer, Dan as Lucifer's Partner, Dom/sub, Gen, Ignored Hard Limit, Ignored Safeword, Loss of Trust, Other, Punishment, Scene Gone Wrong, Shock, Spanking, Subdrop, Supportive Ella, Supportive Linda, Talking, supportive friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2019-06-14 21:32:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15397908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverWolf7/pseuds/SilverWolf7
Summary: When Chloe says she wishes to spank Lucifer, Lucifer decides to let her in a planned scene.  That she never listens to a word he says comes to bite him on the arse.  Hard.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aeshna_cyanea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeshna_cyanea/gifts).



> Yeah, this one is not kind to Chloe, but I have had this idea in my head since halfway through season 3, but had a similar idea in my head since halfway through season 2. This fic was a long time coming for me. It was also supposed to be a one-shot, but it ended up getting long so I am going to split it in two. This first part is the scene and the fallout of it. Next chapter will be the next time Lucifer and Chloe meet. 
> 
> Also, be warned for a bit of repetition here. When I say talking in the tags...it's basically the same conversation. Lucifer is kind of stuck and really needs to talk about it to know where to go from here.

He had no idea how the hell he got into this situation.

Well, okay, that was a lie, he knew exactly how he got into the situation he was in. The Detective had been yelling at him yet again, about how he acted like a child and that she wished she could just spank him.

So, he had told her that she should go ahead and do so. He did, after all, have quite a few fun toys that went quite well with spanking. Paddles, hairbrushes, floggers...you name it, he had it. He had played enough with BDSM to understand how each works too. Chloe...didn’t. But, he did have faith that she would follow rules laid down before they started.

She had readily agreed with it. 

They had figured out a plan together for a first scene in Maze’s room at the Detective’s flat, as it was neutral ground for the both of them. Neither one of them went in there very often and it had all the equipment needed.

He had agreed to floggers and paddles and to being blindfolded. He made sure to tell her that canes were a hard limit and his safe word was pineapple. She asked about the safe word he had picked. He grinned widely at her when he had told her it was one of the few things he never wanted anywhere near his arse.

So, here he was, naked and spread over Maze’s spanking bench. It wasn’t the first time he had been in this position, though it was the first time he had been here for something other than sexual pleasure. Also, definitely the first time with someone that could actually do him damage. Sure, Maze could hurt him if she was wielding the right toys, but when it came to play, she usually never did. Sometimes she’d whip out the hell made toys, so he did know what he liked and not when it came to actual pain.

Which is why he had said a hard no canes. Not only was the pain a little too sharp for his liking, but Chloe had no past experience with using one. 

It was a disaster waiting to happen. 

Chloe walked in front of him still dressed in her normal work clothes, which disappointed him slightly considering he was undressed for the occasion. She held up the blindfold she had selected. He nodded with satisfaction that she had chosen one that worked well on him. 

“Are you sure you want me to do this?” she asked for the tenth time since he had stripped himself of clothes.

“Yes, Detective. Maybe you will learn a few things along the way too.”

She frowned at him. “You really do deserve this, you know?” she stated, before roughly putting the blindfold on him.

He had laid out one of the leather floggers and a wide square paddle she chose to use on him. So, he frowned as he heard but couldn’t see her walking around the room. They had set the scene already, there was no need to go exploring now, unless she was doing it just to up his levels of nervous excitement.

So, it came as a complete surprise when he heard the swish of a fast moving wooden cane, very shortly followed by a line of fire lighting up his arse. He yelped in pain, as the heat from the cane pierced his body in ways he wasn’t at all ready for.

The cane whacked down hard on his butt again, causing another line of searing pain to be made. He hissed and shook his head. “No, Chloe, I said no canes. Please choose something we agreed on!” he shouted as the cane once again came down, and he winced and let out a yell as it landed on one of the lines already made. 

“No, Lucifer, you listen to me. You don’t get to choose your punishment. You need to learn a lesson of your own. You need to learn to take orders from me and others who are trying to keep you out of trouble. You’re not going to learn anything if you’re busy having fun.”

He gasped in shock at that, and almost missed the next smack of the cane on his bare arse. “No. No! Chloe, stop, you obviously don’t know how this works!”

She ignored him and continued to cane him. Tears pricked his eyes with both physical and emotional pain. So, he did the one thing he thought would stop the punishment. He safe worded out.

“Pineapple!” he shouted out loud as the cane’s tip cut into his skin as she got the wrong angle. He was about to relax after saying that when the cane struck again and again shortly after.

“You also don’t get to end your punishment early, just because you don’t like it, Lucifer!” Chloe stated, anger in her voice.

And he realised she wasn’t going to stop. She was using the cane because he said it was a no go. She was ignoring the safe word, because she wanted him to hurt. She had planned from the beginning to ignore him.

The tears pricking at his eyes began to fall hard and fast as he began to plead for her to stop. He shouted out his safe word several other times before, panting hard, Chloe stopped.

“There, this you’ll remember!” And with that she tossed the cane down on the ground and walked away, leaving him aching, confused and utterly betrayed.

He heard the slamming of the front door to the apartment.

She had left him. Left him after what she had done, to deal with the mess left over on his own. No aftercare, no assurance, no nothing. She had just walked away. 

He couldn’t stop the tears and frankly he didn’t want to. He also was too much of a mess to move well. He struggled to reach his phone, which was still in his trousers pocket not too far away. Thankfully, he found the strength to move himself from the bench to the bed.

He needed...he needed someone, anyone to be there and help him, because his thoughts were far too disordered to figure out things on his own. He hit the one number he usually could rely on for things like this, Linda’s.

“Doctor Martin speaking,” came the familiar voice.

“Doctor Linda...I need help.”

She was quiet for a few seconds. “Lucifer? Why, what’s wrong?”

“Chloe hurt me and left. She left and I can’t...I can’t think properly. And she hurt me.”

Linda was quiet again for a few seconds, before she sighed. “Is this about the scene you planned? I know you were nervous about that.”

“She left. And she used the cane even though I told her no canes and she kept going. She just kept going. I safe worded and she just...she didn’t stop.”

Linda sighed deeply. “Oh, Lucifer. I can’t be there right now. I have an appointment I can’t cancel in about five minutes. Call Ella, she’ll understand the situation.”

“Ella?”

“Yes. She’s been experimental in her life. We’ve talked about it before.”

He sniffed and nodded, before remembering she wouldn’t be able to see the gesture. “Okay, thank you.”

“Look after yourself, Lucifer. I’ll check on you after the work day is done.”

“Okay.”

With that, he hung up, found Ella’s number and called the forensic scientist.

“Hey, Lucifer! What’s up? I thought you were spending the next couple of hours with Chloe.”

The crying fit he was in the middle of kicked into a higher gear and he sobbed loudly over the phone. “Ella...please come get me. I want out of here. Please.”

“Where are you? I’ll be right over.”

“The Detective’s flat. In Maze’s room. Please come.” He hung up before she could reply. At least someone was coming for him, though. He had no idea how he would be getting home.

He could feel a trickle of blood from the cut slide down to pool on the bed spread. Maze wasn’t going to be happy at that, since she wasn’t here to have caused it. Thoughts of Maze usually calmed him. She was there to look after him after all, or at least, she used to be. He wondered what Maze would do to the Detective when she realised that the human woman she lived with had hurt him like this. Even demons went by the rules during a scene.

A screech of tires outside made him turn to look at the door to the room. He was also never more thankful that he knew Ella could pick locks if Chloe had locked the door on her way out. A few minutes later, Ella was barging through Maze’s door, a bag in one hand and a look of concern on her face.

She took one look at him and the worry turned into confusion. “Hey, you look worse than I thought. Want to talk about it?” she asked, slowly walking over to the bed he was lying on, picking up the cane, looking at it and frowning. “Wow, she actually drew blood? And didn’t you say canes were a hard limit for you?”

He nodded into the pillow his head was lying on and finally managed to stop crying. “Yeah.”

And the confusion turned back to worry, but this time it was mixed with anger. “Wait, she actually used this on you even though she knows you didn’t want it?”

He nodded again. “Yeah.”

“Okay, let’s have a look then.” With that said, Ella turned him to lie on his stomach instead of on his side and sucked in her breath. “Shit, you’re going to be bruised pretty bad here. Hold on. I got some arnica and boxers for you, so you don’t have to wear anything confining. That’ll help a bit.”

He whimpered in relief as he felt her fingers smooth the cream she had over his burning bum because it felt like he was being thrown a lifeline. It took out some of the pain, but not all of it. Usually he’d be well on his way to fine by now. Chloe must be hanging around close by, probably somewhere in the courtyard to the building complex to get away from him for a while.

He needed to get away from her, but wasn’t in the right...

“Did she even give you any aftercare at all? It’s clear she didn’t try to sooth the wounds she made.”

He shook his head. “No, she just threw the cane to the ground and stormed out...”

Ella clicked her tongue. “Wow. I never pictured her doing anything like this. Okay, come here, you. Time for some major cuddle and care time.” With that said she pulled a big fluffy blanket out of the bag and wrapped it around him. He winced as it brushed against the cut. She lifted the blanket up a bit so where he was hurt wasn’t as tightly covered as the rest of him and he tried to get comfortable. 

His skin felt tight though, too small for him to inhabit. His brain was having trouble issuing orders to the rest of his body. As the arms of Ella wrapped around his torso and pulled him closer to her, he allowed her to do so, revelling in the warmth and comfort of the human woman.

“So, what happened?” she asked, and he understood why. He needed to talk about it, and while he knew he’d have the session later on that evening with Linda, right now he really needed to talk it through just to get his brain back in working order. 

Shit, he had dropped badly. This hadn’t happened to him before. He buried his head against her neck. “She ignored everything I said. Took it as a game from me and decided that I needed to be punished for not listening to her. She used the cane because it’s a hard limit. She ignored my safe wording out, because she got it in her head that this punishment was something I deserved and shouldn’t be able to stop. She just kept on going. I couldn’t even get past the surprise and shock of it to stop her. I just got stuck on safe wording. What did I do wrong?!”

He was close to another crying fit. Tears were pricking at his eyes again. Ella ran one of her hands up and down his back while the other cradled his head to her. “Aww, Luce, you didn’t do anything bad. She’s the one in the wrong. Now come on, I bet you’d be more comfortable in your own apartment. Think you can stand up for me and get the boxers on?”

He nodded, though wasn’t sure if it was true or not without help. He slowly uncurled himself and pulled the blanket off, leaving it on the bed. He had his own at home he could curl up in. And then he was standing naked in front of Ella and for some reason he was feeling shy. He didn’t want her to see him like this. He covered himself with his hands and looked at the ground.

Ella pulled a pair of new boxers out of the bag, taking them out of the packet they came in and held them near his ankles. “I’ll hold them, so all you need to do is step into the leg holes.”

He blinked the boxers into focus, took the necessary steps and soon had on the one piece of clothing he really wanted. He pulled his hands out of the boxers once he was fully covered, but kept his eyes planted to the ground.

Ella picked up the blanket and wrapped it around him. “Okay, come on, Luce. One step at a time to my car and then I’ll drive you home.”

He was so glad that Ella had come for him, because his mind just made him realise that there was no way he could drive right now. His car would have to stay at the station from where he had driven there that morning.

It was that thought that made him start crying again, because nothing felt right and not having his car just made things worse. Ella hugged him close from behind and steered him slowly to her car, opening up the passenger side door for him to get in. 

He had to sit leaning on one side, because the cut was really hurting and his arse still felt like it was on fire. Ella reached around him to buckle up the seat belt. He faced the driver’s seat, until Ella joined him in the car. She smiled at him, before starting the car and driving off towards Lux.

He was either really out of it worse than he thought, or he passed out without closing his eyes, because most of the drive back home he had no memory of. He had lost time. He started to shake, wondering if he would ever feel normal again. What f he was stuck like this? He’d have to quit everything he enjoyed doing just to keep on existing.

“Okay, come on Luce. We’ll use the parking lot elevator to get you up so you don’t have to use the one in Lux.” With that said she got out of the car and came around to his side. She unbuckled him from the seat and, carefully so he wasn’t putting too much pressure on where he hurt, she helped him out of the car.

He lost the blanket, but that was okay, because Ella soon had it wrapped back around him. There wasn’t a bouncer at this door, because only certain people from the club could park down here, and it was home to his car collection. So, in five minutes time, he found himself curled up on his couch, his head on Ella’s lap. She ran a hand through his hair, while the other rubbed gently at his back.

She talked the entire time in a soothing, calm voice as opposed to her usual excited and loud one. It was what he needed then. Quiet and calm and someone who would just help and let him go at his own pace.

He fell asleep after yet another crying fit a half hour later. 

It was quiet voices nearby that woke him up from uneasy disjointed dreams. He shifted and a hand was felt in his hair. He blinked his eyes open, slowly, surprised to find that the sun was much lower in the sky.

He was curled up in a ball on his couch, his head by the side of Ella’s thigh. At some point she must have moved his head off her lap, but didn’t want to go too far away from him. He was at least able to think a lot more clearly now and the sting had vanished along with the cut. 

He yawned, before sitting up properly on the couch, startling Ella.

“Dude, aren’t you still sore?”

He blinked and shook his head. “No, bruising and the cut healed as soon as I was away from the Detective. She makes me physically vulnerable.”

Ella frowned at him, before pulling the blanket off his shoulders. “Alright, this I have to see. Lower them.”

He knew what she was talking about, so shrugged, turned around and lowered the back of the boxers he was still wearing to show off his perfect arse to her. Unblemished and as white as any part of him could possibly be.

“Oh, shit, you really have healed.”

“Lucifer...is now the time to show off?” came the voice of his dear Doctor Linda. He blinked, pulled up the boxers and grinned at her. 

“Quite right, Doctor Linda. Umm, when did you get here?”

The psychiatrist crossed her arms and shook her head. “Only about five minutes ago. Ella filled me i on how she found you.”

Grimacing, Lucifer nodded. “Right. So, umm, is Ella staying or going then? I don’t mind either way.”

The woman in question got up and stretched. He heard her knees crack. “Okay, tell you what? I’ll stay here tonight, but I will go outside on the balcony while you do your thing.” He watched as she walked over to the sliding door and stepped outside. She closed the door behind her for more privacy.

Sighing, he turned back to Linda. “Just so you know, I’m still shaky and want contact with someone else. So, get on the couch and let me lean against you.”

Linda must have known that, because she didn’t turn down the invitation and followed his instructions almost instantly. “Ella told me you were feeling a little touchy feely when you were found.”

He scowled. “Yeah. First time I ever dropped in the really bad way, but to be expected I suppose...”

Linda pulled him close to her side and sighed loudly. “Given what you told me and Ella about it, yeah, that’s more than expected. How are you feeling now?”

He shrugged, and thought about that one for a while. “It feels like...everything I ever thought about her was wrong. I don’t think I can trust her again, especially not with me. She hurt me badly, Linda. I told her I didn’t like the cane because the pain is too sharp for me, and that’s true. But...it also reminds me of my mother in her more vindictive moods before I was booted out of Heaven, you know?”

Linda nodded. “So it held psychological meaning too. You should have told her that as well.”

He shook his head. “I doubt she would have cared. She did what she did because she thinks I don’t listen to her often enough and this is what I deserve for not doing so more often. I doubt any reason would have been strong enough for her. She wanted me to hurt as a constant reminder of her power over me. She then told me I don’t get to end my punishment early just because I want it to or it hurts too much or...something. It gets a bit blurry after the first few strikes.”

“It sounds like you might have went into shock over it.”

He nodded. “Maybe. I just thought it was really bad subdrop, but yeah, shock works. Shock probably plays a part in dropping anyway, but usually it’s the adrenaline easing, not this.”

Linda nodded at him calmly and patted him gently on the back. “Most scenes don’t end with the person who is topping destroying the trust of their sub. She went in there for reasons outside of what you planned for. You thought you’d be giving her what she wanted. It’s not your fault you found out she would do this to you.”

And with that, tears started pricking at his eyes again. “Ah, shit. Why can’t I stop crying?!” he said, angrily wiping at his face.

“Chloe broke the trust you had in her. That hurts. She betrayed you. How badly it will affect you won’t really be apparent to you though until the next time you meet. You might find that you just can’t get past it. Or, you might put up with it still. It depends.”

He sniffed and shook his head. “Depends on what?”

“How well you deal with betrayal of someone you’ve been close to.” 

And he knew. He was not going to take this well at all. The last time he was betrayed this badly his brother had kicked him out of his home and banished him on the orders of his parents. And that was apparently, if his mother was telling the truth though he doubted it, the good outcome.

It had been ages ago, and he still wasn’t and doubted he would ever be over it.

“What do I do?” he asked quietly, desperately needing advice more than anything right then.

Linda shrugged. “If you look at her and want to get away? Get away. Work with Dan or someone else in the department. You’re still a civilian consultant. You don’t have to quit doing the police work you enjoy so much. You would just have to change partners.”

He nodded. “What if that doesn’t happen?”

Linda sighed and rubbed at her forehead. “Then you will have to try and I do mean try, don’t just fold to her demands, to get her to understand that there needs to be changes. She needs to treat you better. She will not touch you again. I doubt you’d let her right now anyway...”

Lucifer frowned. “That’s a weird thought. I am craving touch right now, but you’re right. The thought of the Detective touching me makes me feel sick. That’s...different. It used to make me feel all tingly in the good way.”

Linda rolled her eyes at him and he managed to give her a grin. “I can tell you’re having an emotional crisis right now, you’ve turned this into sexual innuendo. I know, it’s your way of coping with things, but it gets uncomfortable sometimes.”

His grin failed and he let his head fall onto her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m just trying right now to feel normal and it’s hard.”

She patted him on the back again and let out her breath in a small sigh. “I know. You’ll probably feel off for quite a while, considering how close you were to Chloe. That’s going to change no matter what. And that kind of change hurts a lot. I know.”

Lucifer remembered the mess Linda went through with her ex husband and nodded. Yeah, she did know. Reese had hit her while she was trying to help him. That...that must have hurt a lot. He let out a sigh of his own and closed his eyes. “I’m still tired and I slept for two hours...”

“You’re still coming down from what she did to you. You seem a little warmer though, so the shock is passing. It’s natural to want to sleep after such events. Give your mind and body time to process what happened. Do you want to go to bed and I’ll tell Ella to either stay or go.”

He nodded. “Tell her to stay. I don’t want to be alone...”

Nodding, Linda got up and walked over to where Ella was waiting outside for him to finish his impromptu session. He got up and wandered over to his bedroom, intent on going to bed. He usually would go to sleep wearing only his boxer briefs, but he was wearing boxers today and he wanted a full layer of clothes against his skin. It would help him feel warmer and it would make him feel more secure.

He wasn’t very comfortable right then being mostly naked.

By the time he had pulled on a pair of thick, comfy pyjamas Ella was back inside and Linda was walking to the lift to head to her own home.

“Good night, Doctor Linda,” he said.

She turned, smiled at him and gave him a little wave. “I’ll see you at our next appointment, Lucifer.”

He nodded and both he and Ella watched as she got in the lift and disappeared from view as the doors closed.

“Ready for bed then?” Ella said and he nodded at her.

Nodding back, she walked to his bedroom and pulled the sheets down so she could get in. She patted the bed next to her. “Well, get in here then. Do you mind if I read something while you’re asleep?”

He shook his head, not really in the mood any longer to talk. He was suddenly having trouble staying awake, emotionally exhausted from the events of earlier that day.

He did as was told though and crawled under the sheets and snuggled up to the scientist in his bed. He closed his eyes.

He was out within five minutes and didn’t wake up again for the rest of that night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer and Chloe fight. Meanwhile, Dan and the other women (minus Linda) plan punishment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this seemed to fit better mid season 3, so Lucifer and Cain are getting on great, Cain hasn't even thought of dating Chloe yet and Charlotte is alive and relatively well. Also, this has turned into a 3 chaptered fic...this thing just keeps growing. This was meant to be a one-shot.

Chloe didn’t call again for a week.

He was surprisingly not upset about it at all. He had gotten so used to her calling him over for even the silliest things, like doing paperwork she knew he wouldn’t touch in the first place. He did have better things to do with his time then fill out forms. He had enough of that at Lux.

He was also surprised when it wasn’t the Detective who called him in next, but Ella. Apparently, she missed him and wanted to see him, but was super busy with her work.

He believed that. He had noticed she sometimes stayed in late to work when her day is swamped. So, he got dressed in a suit he knew Chloe liked, in an effort to stave off the inevitable yelling he was going to get the moment he walked in when he was apparently not needed. 

A half hour later, he was standing outside the precinct, taking a few deep breaths and wiping his hands on his trousers legs to try and stop their clammy feeling becoming overly sweaty. With one last deep breath, he walked into the police station and made his way towards Ella’s lab.

The first thing he noticed was that Dan wasn’t in that day, or was off doing something for someone else. The second thing he noticed was that this was a very bad idea. Already he could see an angry Chloe glaring at him from her desk. He was going to try to walk past her to get to the lab that was Ella’s, but knew that would do no good when she got up off her seat and began stalking towards him. He actually felt threatened by her, knowing she could and would hurt him if she felt like it. She had once slapped him in the middle of the precinct and no one had done a thing about it.

He didn’t feel safe. Surrounded by other people in a police station and he didn’t feel safe. Either his partnership with Chloe was well and truly over because he couldn’t even look at her, or he was going to have to quit the job.

It all depended on people’s reactions to this particular fight he could feel coming at the look on Chloe’s face.

“Lucifer, what are you doing here? I never called you in,” the Detective stated, anger in her voice when she met with him near Dan’s desk. He really didn’t get very far without being accosted by her. He took an unsteady step backwards from her.

“Uh, Miss Lopez called. She said she wanted to have some company and since I haven’t got anything else to do today, I decided to come here.”

Chloe’s hands crossed around her chest and he winced and took another step backwards. Angry gestures, especially concerning her hands were not something he really wanted anywhere near him right now.

“So, you came here for Ella?” she asked.

He nodded at her, not really able to find his voice. He knew how jealous Chloe could get. Damn, this was a really stupid idea.

“I saw you leave my place with her. You couldn’t even wait until you were home before inviting others to my place for your own selfish reasons!”

He blinked at that. Did Chloe seriously think that he was being selfish in trying to stop the downward spiral of doubt, fear, lost trust and self-hatred he would have gotten stuck in. Some of those things he still was dealing with, but at least it wasn’t as bad as it could have been if he hadn’t asked for help.

“How is making myself get a ride home selfish? I left my car at the precinct. I had no way home. I couldn’t wear clothes, since you hurt me. I couldn’t sit straight in a chair. I could barely think straight. I was unsafe to drive. I couldn’t do much of anything. As it is it wasn’t my suggestion to call Miss Lopez, it was Linda’s.”

She glared at her. “You called your therapist?! I thought you would be used to things like that, given your masochistic streak. Why would you call her?”

He sighed. She wasn’t going to listen. “You hurt me, Detective. I don’t think you know what a Hard Limit is...”

She frowned at him, some of the anger in her eyes disappearing, replaced by confusion. “I thought it was things you didn’t want...”

He shook his head. “If it was just the pain, it would be a yellow limit. Something to work up towards. A hard limit is there to protect someone from emotional and psychological pain. Canes can...well, I guess the word to use is trigger. They hurt me more than just physically. And the pain is too much for me that way too. Hard Limits should never, ever be ignored, Chloe. Ignoring a hard limit is like saying you don’t care at all for your sub or their well being. That’s what you did to me. You did teach me a lesson, detective. You taught me I can’t trust you. And to ignore the safe word too. You very nearly destroyed me emotionally, Detective. You assaulted me, beat me and bled me for what? Why did you do this to me?!”

His voice had been steadily rising through his explanation. Okay, his rant was more accurate. 

Her reaction was to roll her eyes. “You gave me permission. I asked over and over again if you wanted me to smack you and you kept saying yes. That’s not assault.”

And that did it, it really did it. She was trying to excuse her own behaviour to make her look and feel better now that they were getting curious glances from others around them. He noted quite a few angry glances, but didn’t know if they were for him, or his partner.

He looked up from the floor, his eyes cold and hard in his own brand of anger. “I gave you permission with exceptions, Detective. We had set a scene out, you agreed to it and after you had me in a position I couldn’t see you went behind my back, broke one of my very few hard limits, caned me so hard you drew blood, you ignored me safe wording several times and then you just left me there! You left me naked on the floor barely able to move. I’m amazed I found the ability to get to my phone, let alone to call not one but two people. If I hadn’t had both Doctor Linda and Miss Lopez on speed dial, I still would be there.”

She glared at him. “Like Hell you would. I would have kicked you out way before a week was up.”

He stared at her, losing the anger that was keeping him going in this fight. He shook his head. “I need to go see the Lieutenant...” With that said, he walked away from her and towards the office Marcus was using. At least he got on well with him, regardless of the man being Cain of old.

He didn’t notice the gossip starting, or the angry glares fixed on Chloe. 

He needed to get another partner. He’d ask Dan if he could work with him, but first he needed to let Pierce know he was no longer going to work with Chloe.

He was silently crying by the time he got to the door he was after.

* * * * * * * ** * *

Dan had been having breakfast with Charlotte and was late to work, which it turned out happened to be a good thing. If he had showed up at the beginning of this fight, he probably would have ended up involved and Chloe would have turned on him too.

He was married to the woman once; he knew how she got when angry, even if the anger is misplaced.

“Chloe,” he called out to his ex, “what happened?”

She frowned at him. “Lucifer decided to let me smack him like the child he is and is going on about how he didn’t like it.”

That got him confused. Lucifer had been pretty loudly yelling about safe words and that was a topic he knew little about, but understood to be important regardless. “Wait, he let you?”

“Yes! I even asked him several times if it was okay, and he said yes.”

He nodded at that. It definitely sounded like some kind of kink Lucifer had. It really wouldn’t surprise him if Chloe got off on hurting people either. 

His relationship with Charlotte may have started off really rocky before her amnesia, but afterwards things were good. Really good. He was glad he took the chance and that Charlotte was changing her ways to become a better person, since he was doing the same thing. The effort really showed.

Chloe would never change. 

Dan felt sorry for poor Lucifer. “Wait...he said you ignored him safe wording. What was that about?”

“I told him I wanted to punish him like the child he is. Children don’t get to choose when their punishment ends. Trixie sure doesn’t.”

And that made him freeze and turn a glare of his own on her. “Did you just say you smack Trixie? I thought we agreed to no smacking before she was born.”

Chloe rolled her eyes at him. “No, of course I don’t. Swear jar, timeouts and other little punishments. Mind you, she walks all over everyone if she can get away with it.”

Dan shook his head. “It sounds like you want to smack her to make her stop. No.”

She glared at him. “Are you trying to tell me how I raise our daughter is wrong?!”

He held up his hands and shook his head. “Not if you keep not smacking her, I won’t.”

Chloe nodded her head at him. “Good. And this whole Lucifer thing will blow over soon. He can’t stay away long enough. I mean he called Ella to take him home the other day and she called him in today. Can you believe that?! Why would he come at her call?”

Dan looked at her in confusion over that. “Uh, Chloe, in case it wasn’t plainly obvious, the two are pretty close friends. Nothing sexual mind you. I think she’s the only female around here that isn’t interested. Well, woman who goes for men anyway. They like joking at each other and keeping each other company when you’re not around.’

Chloe’s eyes turned towards the lab and Dan wondered if he should have told her that. He could see the jealousy in her, jealousy over losing Lucifer to someone else. Considering what it seemed like she did from what he had heard, he is pretty sure that Chloe just lost him regardless.

Shaking his head, he sat down at his desk and tapped it to gain her attention. “Leave her alone, Chloe. She’s done nothing wrong and hasn’t stolen Lucifer away. Why the jealousy anyway? The two of you aren’t together.”

Chloe made fists with her hands and for a second he thought she was going to hit him, but she didn’t. “I am not jealous!”

With that said, she turned around sharply and marched herself back to her desk.

He was still staring at her from his seat when a hand slammed down on his desk, causing him to jump. Turning sharply, he met the incredibly angry glare of a pissed off Mazikeen.

“Just so you know, I’m going to ‘smack’ your ex right here in the precinct with a cane. You can arrest me later if you want, but she deserves it for what she did to Lucifer!”

Dan frowned but knew there was no way he’d be able to stop her. Maze was a force of her own. “What exactly did she do? I was late to the fight and only heard something about safe words.”

“She got him naked, blindfolded him and went outside the set scene, grabbed a cane, which is one of Lucifer’s hard limits and beat him with it. She drew blood. A scene like they were supposed to have is supposed to be blood free. Hell, it’s supposed to be bruise free. She bruised him up pretty bad though from what I heard.”

He nodded at that one. He could believe it. “What’s a Hard Limit?”

Maze leaned against his desk and grinned. “Something to never be used or done because of emotional and or psychological damage. Lucifer has prior experience with canes. He really doesn’t like it.”

He raised his eyebrows at that. “Wait, Chloe knew that and did it anyway?!”

“She knew it was a hard limit, but not why. Ella told me he told her it was for pain reasons and that was it. Somehow I doubt if she knew it would have stopped her. When your ex gets something in her head, she goes ahead and does it. She purposely went in wanting to beat the shit out of his ass, so she did just that.”

Dan shook his head and closed his eyes. “She’s not going to like this.”

Maze laughed and he opened his eyes with enough time to see her shrug. “I don’t care. I am still Lucifer’s protector. She hurts him, I hurt back. Lucifer won’t do it, so it is up to me to do it for him. And after that, I am packing my shit and leaving the apartment. How dare she turn my room into a torture chamber for Lucifer.”

Dan looked over to Chloe again, seeing her head bent over her desk as she worked on files. He also spotted Ella glaring at her from the stairs. Oh yeah, he was pretty sure Ella, who was normally so cheerful and upbeat would want to take a piece out of his ex too.

“I think you might have company,” Dan stated, nodding in Ella’s direction, before waving her over.

Soon enough all three of them were bent over his desk. It must have looked rather odd to people watching. He could see Charlotte walking near to him as well and wondered if another woman was about to join him at his desk, this one he was actually sleeping with.

He grinned at her. “Hello, Charlotte. You come to join in on the fun? Maze has it in her head that she’s going to bend Chloe over her desk and cane her right here in the middle of the precinct. Thoughts?”

Charlotte glared in Chloe’s direction. “Considering Ella told me what she did to Lucifer, she better be ready for a whole lot of pain. I would advise to wait until she gets home, but with a child around that may not be best. How about going into one of the interrogation rooms instead.”

“Why?!” Maze growled out angrily.

“Because Lucifer wasn’t publicly humiliated. He’d be upset if you did that to Chloe. But she will have to still walk out of here fully clothed and smarting like Hell is on her heels. Lucifer from what I hear had to walk out of the apartment naked save for a blanket and a pair of loose fitting boxers. But he was covered.”

Maze crossed her arms, which showed off more of her chest and Dan turned his gaze away. It felt wrong looking at another woman when the one he was currently dating was right there. “Maybe that way Lucifer could see if he decides to join in or not. And we could watch without interrupting.”

He didn’t know why the thought of Maze belting Chloe with a cane sounded good, but it did. He was remembering dreary nights where he was so tired all he wanted to do was sleep, but she demanded sex for a child. He remembered her controlling behaviour. How she wanted to have everything go her way. The only time she ever did what he said was when he was a higher rank than her in their job. That changed as soon as she had gotten to detective herself.

He had ended up drinking more at the cop bar to not be home with her. He had started working later hours so he didn’t have to be bossed around by someone who was supposed to be his equal not his superior. His only regret about taking those actions which led to the divorce was less time with his daughter, because he had tried his hardest to stay a good dad, even through the fighting and the lying and the working.

Thankfully, his relationship with Trixie was still great and she stayed with him more often now. The divorce was the best idea he had come up with. He was glad that getting their relationship back up and running had failed thanks to Malcolm.

Chloe barely took on any responsibility for their failed marriage, instead saying that they just drifted apart. She couldn’t and wouldn’t see the truth. She drove him away with her behaviour.

If someone could make her see that her actions had consequences than the idea sounded good to him.

Mazikeen would probably get in trouble over it, but more than one person was looking at her with an unfriendly look. Sure, that had happened before when he had felt unsafe and blackmailed into silence over the whole Palmetto incident, but he had confessed in the end. 

Maybe this caning was a good idea? He hated the thought of Chloe in pain, but if she had assaulted Lucifer and wasn’t going to admit it, which by this point it seemed clear is what happened, nothing would get Chloe to see sense other than what had happened to be done to her.

Lucifer was all for the punishment fitting the crime. Charlotte was right. Bending her over her work desk would blow up in all their faces, but doing this in an interview room with a viewing room they could control seemed better.

Best to keep these events far away from Trixie.

He looked at his girlfriend and grinned. “There’s an available room now. Should we wait for Lucifer or not?”

Ella and Maze shared a look, before exchanging nods. “We wait.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer, Dan and Marcus talk and Chloe gets her punishment caning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uuuugh, I had to rewrite the ending to this chapter, and this one isn't as good as the last one, which annoys me. But, either way, here it is! Lucifer gets Dan as a partner and Chloe gets caned.

Lucifer closed the door behind him and, for a blessed few seconds there was silence. He knew it wouldn’t last long, as he had come here to Marcus for a reason.

He leaned against the door and tried to stop the tears that had begun falling from his eyes without his permission. He had no idea when he had started crying, but he hoped it was not during the fight with Chloe. He’d never hear the end of it if that had happened.

“Lucifer? What was that about?” Marcus said from at his desk.

Sniffing and rubbing at his wet and aching eyes, he turned around. “I need to change partners, that’s what. I can’t continue working with Chloe. She just...I can’t trust her any longer with me. I can’t do it.”

Pierce looked at him with a look of set determination n his face. “Any idea why that is?”

Lucifer looked to the floor. “I don’t know how much you may have just heard but I got so sick of her saying she wanted to spank me that I told her to go ahead. We set up a scene together. It was all set out, rules applied and toys to be used laid out. She ignored all of it, broke one of my hard limits and ignored me when I safe worded. Said a child doesn’t get to chose when their punishment ends and she just kept going. I mean, in the set scene, no blood should have been involved, but she drew blood. And she makes out like it was my fault because I let her hit me.”

Marcus held up a hand, his face going harder than it normally was. “Wait, she ignored you safe wording and she ignored your hard limits?!”

“Yes. Like I said, I can’t trust her anymore. I just...I need to get away from her at the workplace, you know? Was thinking I could work with Dan instead, if he’s up to it. Sometimes we mesh well and other times we don’t so, it’s up to him. If not, I’ll go with someone else. But I just really want quiet for a bit, if I can stay in here...?”

Marcus sighed but pointed to a couch stuffed in a corner of his office. “Sure, but don’t ask again until you’re ready. I actually have paperwork to do. You seriously don’t understand paperwork until you end up in a job which still uses actual paper in an age of computers when there’s so much more data to collect.

Lucifer managed to huff out a bit of a laugh at that one, before sitting himself down and closing his aching eyes. He needed to think of what to say to Dan when he was called in.

He stayed sitting there with his head in his hands for a half hour, before he stirred. Sighing, he stretched out his now sore arms and legs. He looked over to Marcus, who was looking at him over the paperwork he had been working on while he was calming himself down.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, I’m calm. I’m ready. I can do this.”

Marcus gave a short nod and got up to get the door. He stopped halfway there and turned to him. “You sure you want Dan as a partner? I could set you up with someone better? Ryan is pretty damn good and is partnerless right now and you get along well enough with her.”

He shook his head. “I know Dan. I would prefer to work with someone who I know I can work with. I mean, we’ll probably bicker a lot and maybe cause some problems and we’ll butt heads, but I know when we quit that, we can get the job done. I don’t know how Ryan works.”

Marcus nodded at that one. “Okay, but it’s your head on a platter if you can’t work with him too well.”

Grinning, he nodded. “Yeah yeah, be the good Lieutenant and go inform my new parter to get his butt in here.”

With another short nod, Pierce opened up his office door. “Espinoza! Get in here!”

Dan must have been expecting this call, as he was in there less than a minute later and looked pissed off. He closed the door behind him.

“Seriously, I am so pissed off with Chloe right now. Maze and Ella filled me in on what happened while you were in here. Also, I think Maze is going to end up beating Chloe in one of the interview rooms. And that was a compromise. She was going to just do it right at her desk.”

Marcus frowned at that. “Keep it in private and I will turn the other eye and not arrest your asses for assault.”

Dan grinned and nodded. “Ooh yeah, we got Maze to wait until we’re done in here. She wanted to wait to know if Lucifer wanted to watch or not.”

He shuddered. “No, Dan. I don’t. The thought of even watching that turns my stomach. And I actually mean that. I’d be sick.”

Dan nodded. “Yeah. I think Ella wants to watch, which is really weird. She’s usually so...happy and non violent. But who knows if she actually will. I know I’m not, it just...doesn’t feel right. I’ll probably go have lunch with Charlotte.”

Lucifer nodded and relaxed. Well, at least he wasn’t going to have to watch, but at least he knew Maze was still looking out for him. He really should take more care of his demon. He had been neglecting her recently. Maybe this was her offer of peace? He knew Maze blamed the Detective for the neglect... and she would be right too.

“Punishments set aside, Lucifer doesn’t feel he can work with Decker any longer and asked for you as a partner. You up to it, Espinoza?”

He watched as Dan straightened himself up to his full height. “Yes sir. Not sure anyone can rein the devil in, but hey, I’ll give it my best as to being his partner.”

Marcus nodded. ‘Good, then consider yourself reinstate to full Detective then and get out there. Morningstar, you go with him. Oh, and get Decker in here before anything happens. I want to have a talk with her about how I expect my detectives to work.”

Lucifer left the room after they had both nodded their understanding to that. It seemed that Chloe was going to get into trouble on every front for what she did. 

Oddly, he didn’t know if he liked that thought or not.

* * * * * * * * * *

Dan and Lucifer exited the room and the first thing Dan did was go straight for Chloe’s desk, waving for Lucifer to go wait at his desk where the three women were loitering, waiting to know what had happened.

To his surprise, Lucifer went without a single complaint and a small nod. Yeah, shit between him and Chloe had totally hit the fan and exploded in Chloe’s face. Lucifer was right; there was no way that he’d be able to continue working with Chloe.

“Hey, Chloe, Pierce wants to talk to you.”

She sighed, ran a hand through her hair, before getting up. “Any idea what about?”

“I think it’s probably about the fight you had with Lucifer. I do not envy you at all right now. He’s kind of pissed.”

Chloe grimaced, but nodded and made her way with determination towards the Lieutenant’s office. He went back to his desk where his new partner and his three lady friends were waiting. Well, two lady friends and hot as hell girlfriend. 

He actually felt kind of lucky right now to be surrounded by friends for when Chloe gets out, because he had the feeling the shit hadn’t been all flung at the fan yet. Maze especially felt like an umbrella in the shit storm that was about to hit them all.

He grimaced about as badly as Chloe had at being called in. 

“Hey, Lucifer, are you going to watch or not?” Ella asked.

He shook his head. “No. I’ll stay out here or... Do you mind if I go home? I really don’t want to be here for when the Dete... When Decker leaves Pierce’s office.”

Dan nodded. “Yeah that’s a good idea. You want a lift?”

With that, Charlotte stirred, laid a hand on Lucifer shoulder and squeezed it softly and it was just then that he remembered that at one stage, Charlotte had been Lucifer's step mom. Well, at least Lucifer had lost the attitude and let Dan and his girl be happy together, but it was small gestures like that, which he would take the wrong way if he didn’t know Charlotte still probably held maternal feelings for him.

“How about I take you home, Lucifer. I don’t want to be here when Maze get’s her hands on Decker. Plausible deniability. No one will be able to say we did a thing, since we weren’t even here to witness it and everyone knows you’re the one who is into punishment. They can’t blame you if you’re not here.”

He nodded, his face paling slightly from its already pale colouring. Shit, Dan hadn’t even thought of that. Poor Lucifer.

He nodded his blessing at that. “Good idea. Go with Charlotte, Lucifer. I’ll meet up with you once I fill out this lot of paperwork. You’ve had a bad enough day with getting yelled at enough as it is today.”

Lucifer nodded quietly and with Charlotte gently herding his new partner towards the door and to his home above Lux, he was left with Maze and Ella.

He took a deep breath. “As much as I’d like to watch I think I’m going to bow out too. I’ll stay here. You two go ahead.”

Ella patted his back and grinned. “I’ll give you all the juicy details afterwards. Until then, I’ll be in my lab.”

With that he watched as Ella wandered away, leaving just Maze.

“I feel like no one is interested in this but me,” she stated, sitting herself down heavily in the chair across from his desk and putting her killer heels on the desk.

“Oh no, we’re interested, it’s just we can’t be seen acting accomplices. If we’re caught, we’ll be punished by Pierce. Though he has said he’d turn a blind eye to you doing it, so have at it.”

“Huh,” Maze said, with a small grin. “Never thought he would be on my side for anything. Fine. I will be in with Ella. Come get us when it’s time and Decker’s had her little bitch fit.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I’ll do that. And then I will go join Charlotte and Lucifer for lunch and then come back. Have fun or... whatever.”

A wicked grin came across her face. “Oh trust me, Dan, I will.”

He did not doubt it a bit.

* * * * * * * * * *

Chloe was furious by the time she had been done getting dressed down by Lieutenant Pierce and decided that there was no way she could have ever considered him a good romantic partner if he didn’t understand that Lucifer had specifically asked her to thrash his ass. 

Sure, she didn’t go in Maze’s room with the intention to make him bleed, but she was pissed off at his constant bad behaviour and giving him the caning he so sorely had needed in his childhood had definitely helped. Or so she had thought, until she realised the reason Lucifer had come in here was to bitch at the Lieutenant until Pierce had given up and fell for his whining and took Lucifer off her hands entirely and right into Dan’s.

Why did Dan not tell her that Lucifer had changed partners to him? It made no sense. They were still good friends, better even, since the divorce. Dan should know he could tell her things like that. It wasn’t like it was Dan’s idea to get landed with Lucifer.

She had argued that, wanting her ex husband and her ex partner to have nothing to do with one another. 

Still, it hurt that a stupid fight about something he had asked her to do to him had made Lucifer quit so easily. Talk about showing his true colours as a damned coward. One fight and he left her. It proved how bad he would be as a romantic partner too for that matter.

How come she always seemed to get entangled with men who were just bad for her?

Hopefully, the next man to catch her eyes was better than Dan, Lucifer and Marcus rolled into one and actually listened to her when she was giving good advice to them. Why did no one ever listen to her?

Sighing, she looked around, wanting to go tell Lucifer off for putting her through all of this over a stupid argument and a smacking he had personally asked for. How dare he make her out to be the bad guy here.

Unfortunately, it looked like Lucifer had taken off. He wasn’t even at Dan’s desk, his new partner, even though Dan was there. Paper work sucked, but all of them had to do it. Dan looked like he was finishing up a report, probably left over work from before he just got promoted back up to full time Detective and would no longer be working as the butt of every other cops whim and joke.

A job he had received by being dirty. Marcus hated dirty cops. Why would the Lieutenant do this to her?

She had thought he liked her. They had shared that moment in the van.

Ah well, it didn’t matter now. At least now she’ll get a partner that will at least help with the paperwork, though you couldn’t get much better than Lucifer out in the field. She was really going to miss him there. She wondered if her intuition for the job will do her good now, or if she had lost it along with her last partner. 

Either way, she was bound to find out soon, when she got reassigned a partner.

For now though, it was back to filling out the paperwork on the last case she would ever do with Lucifer by her side. She had been putting this one off, waiting for him to get back from taking a week off. She should have known something was up, as he never stayed away too long. She had just started it and getting into her writing groove when Maze walked up to her side. She looked up at her roommate and smiled. “Hey Maze. Lucifer isn’t in. He left for home.”

Maze rolled her eyes and secretly Chloe agreed with the movement, as she agreed that it was ridiculous that Lucifer had left just to avoid a fight.

“Not here for him, Decker. Got some punk in lockdown. You’ll do in interviewing him just as much as he would.”

She blinked and her grin widened. “Got your bounty then? That’s good. Sure, just wait a sec, let me finish with this word.”

She finished what she was writing and got up, following Maze into one of the interview rooms near Ella’s lab. She got confused when Maze knocked heavily on the door to the lab, before turning into the main room. Ella got out and moved to the opposite door. Seemed she wanted in on watching. Probably seeing how well she did without Lucifer. 

She followed Maze, closed the door behind her, turned to the table and chairs near the centre of the room and opened her mouth to start talking, before closing it again with a click.

No one else was in there but Maze. Maze who was circling her. A loud click echoed through the room as the door to the room was locked from the outside. She frowned and tried the door regardless, because someone must have thought she was coming in here to conduct an interview with a witness or suspect. 

“So, Decker, take a seat and let me explain exactly what I’m about to do. Oh, and before you start saying this is unfair and I will get caught or busted for doing this, I already have Pierce’s go ahead to do this. Yeah, I have permission from your boss.”

She scowled. “What is going on Maze?”

Her roommate pointed at her with a wicked looking cane in her hand. It was bamboo. “You hurt Lucifer and you did it in my room, with my equipment. No one hurts Lucifer like that and gets away with it. So, I am going to do to you what you did to him.”

She backed into the door, her hands immediately going to cover her ass. “You can’t do that. You don’t have my permission. I had his.”

Maze swung the cane and Chloe heard it cut through the air. “You know what a hard limit is? It’s something that must never be done in a scene. You broke his. The moment you did that, you not only lost his trust, his faith and his permission, it went from play to assault.”

She rolled her eyes. “Then he should never have even brought up the cane.”

“Then you should never have been in the room with him, as you obviously don’t give two flying fucks about his emotional well being. Hard limits are there not only because of physical pain, but psychological too. You have no idea of the pain you caused him. The physical pain was nothing compared to the emotional and psychological hurt you put him through.”

Chloe lifted her arms to cross them. “He never mentioned any reasons other than physical pain.”

Maze rolled her eyes again and Chloe bristled, as she had no idea what the hell was up with her, but she was beginning to think it wasn’t Lucifer that caused the first eye roll. Why was everyone looking to hurt her for something Lucifer told her to do?

“If you were abused as a child, would you talk about it openly to someone else outside a therapist?”

She scowled at that. “I’m his partner. He’s supposed to be able to tell me anything.”

Maze raised a finely sculpted eyebrow at her, a grin forming on her face. “Oh, really? Why would he tell you anything when you never listen to a single word he says?”

This time Chloe rolled her eyes at her roommate. “Trust me, he never shuts up about anything.”

She had a wicked grin thrown in her direction. She felt like punching the smug look off Maze’s face. “Oh, he’ll talk all day long about unimportant things. It’s the important things he has given up on telling you. You dismiss him, you tell him to grow up, you tell him he should stop making things up. Well, newsflash girl, you got him to the point where he had basically given up on ever telling you anything remotely personal or important going on in his life.”

Chloe let the scowl on her face deepen at hearing that. “That is not true.”

Maze cocked her head to the side and grinned. “Really? Remember last year when he went nuts on everyone and tried to get himself killed by sniper? What happened?”

That brought Chloe up short, because Lucifer had refused to tell her. She had begged him to as well, but he continued refusing. The scowl left her face, instead turning back into a normal frown. “You know what happened then?”

Maze nodded and grinned. “Yep, I know exactly what happened, down to the nasty little details. And at that point, you were closer to him than I was. That should tell you something, Decker. That he’d rather tell me his problems than you. Also, in case it wasn’t blindingly obvious since he announces it casually, he does have a therapist to tell that kind of shit to.”

Chloe deflated at that, because it was true that he talked about things Linda did or said constantly, as long as it didn’t get too personal on his end. He had no problems whatsoever telling anyone he was with at the time that he had to stop what he was doing because he had a therapy appointment. 

Maze got up from her chair and pointed at the table. “You can either get this over with willingly and lay ass up on the table, or I will take you down and tie you up.”

She had no doubt whatsoever that Maze was both capable and would do it, but like hell she was going to just submit to something like this to someone as sadistic as Maze. Chloe as subtly as she could tried the door again. Nope, still locked. She was stuck in here and didn’t look like she was getting out any time soon. 

She just remembered that Ella was watching through the one way glass. Her head shifted to try and see through to the other side and see if Ella was still in there, though she knew it would be stupid to even try. Submitting was better than being trussed up like a turkey in this situation. Sighing and hating herself a little for it, she slowly walked her way to the table and lay herself across it, her legs staying on the floor.

“Good choice, Decker. You don’t get to complain. You don’t get to stop this. No safe word, no stopping it until I am ready to stop. You’ve earned this for your absolutely deplorable behaviour towards someone who fully put their trust in you just so you could break it in one swift...” The cane came down hard on her still covered ass and even through the layer of denim she felt it like a line of fire across where it landed.

“Oh yeah, I forgot. Undo your jeans. You’re wearing a bit too much clothing for this. Drop 'em past your ass, that’s all you need. Shame really.”

Fear raced through her at that. She really was not wanting to know how much more it would hurt while naked. She shook her head no.

“Sorry, Decker. You don’t get to stop your punishment. You don’t get the privilege of a no. You’re going to get your bare ass caned.”

She sucked in a breath, but stubbornly said it out loud. “No, Maze. I can’t believe that Pierce would let you do this.”

Maze walked to her side and grinned down at her, before shoving a hand between her zipper and the table. “You’ll have to ask him afterwards then. Trust me, he knows exactly what’s going on in here.”

Her jeans were shoved over her ass, followed by her panties. Cold fear washed through her as she knew that there was no stopping Maze when she got an idea in her head. 

Maze disappeared behind her again and the only warning she got was the swish of wood through the air, before a loud crack filled the room. It took a few seconds for her brain to catch up with the sound and she bit her hand to stop herself from screaming out in pain. If it felt like fire before with clothes on, that was nothing compared to clothes off. 

The second line got her right under the first. The third right above the first. It felt like it was never going to stop. When the top half of her ass was fully on fire, she started begging for it to stop. Naturally, she was ignored. She had started crying some time after the second smack across her ass.

Chloe honestly thought it would never end, but it did. Her entire ass must be bright red and some part of her thought that there was no possible way all that had happened and not spilt blood. She lowered her hands to run over her inflamed, red skin and didn’t come away with so much as a single drop. She lowered her head to her arms and began sobbing in relief that it was finally over. 

By the time she had calmed down Maze had packed up the cane and was sitting on a chair across from her, feet up on the table. There was a smug, satisfied grin on her face. Chloe wanted to hit her for it, but knew that was a really bad idea, so stopped herself before her thoughts became reality.

“Doors open, Decker. You can leave whenever you want. But know this; I no longer will be living with you. Have fun getting your precious rent without me.”

With that, Maze got to her feet, stalked to the door, opened it and vanished from sight.

It took Chloe a good 15 minutes, before she felt the pain ease enough for her to pull her pants up and even then it stung so badly, she just wanted to rip them off and go without for the rest of the day. Lying on her bed with her ass uncovered and a fan on sounded really good.

Shit, without Maze there was no way she’d be able to pay rent on time. She’d have to ask her mom if she could move back into the beach house. If she said no, Chloe had no idea what she would do for living arrangements.

Maybe she could beg Lucifer for money? But, no, he could barely even look at her anymore. She had royally screwed up and it was only now, with parts of her feeling like they were on fire and potentially homeless, that she realised that maybe she should have stopped when Lucifer had said so. 

It was far too late for that regret now.

She slowly stood up straight and took a few steps around the interview room to see how badly she looked while walking. Taking a few deep breaths, she pushed through the pain, straightened her shoulders and with a walk that only slightly made her look like she was hurting in a really embarrassing place, left the room.

She decided to not go ask Pierce if he was aware of what had happened. All she wanted was to go home and lie down for a good few hours while the sting lessened. How long it would take, she had no idea. Her mom had been a hands off parent and her dad was busy most of the day and didn’t believe in smacking her.

Dan was missing. Going to her desk to pick up the report to do at home, she noted it was lunchtime. Dan always had lunch with Charlotte, which explained his absence. Thank God he hadn’t witnessed her humiliation.

She wondered if she should call Lucifer and apologise before going home, or if she should wait until she was thinking a bit more clearly.

Packing up her things, she logged off, stating personal reasons as why and left early. 

Maybe she would take a week off like Lucifer had, before coming back. For Ella. Who had seen everything that had happened.

Chloe was sure of one thing. She was never going to live this one down.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus ends this story. Safe Word completed. This is probably the worst it is going to get with me writing something with Chloe in it. Now to go off and finish writing Broody Angel fic and then I will finish my Lucifer's Flock series. And THAT one is a long time coming. Also, Devil Looks Like A Lady is also almost finished with 1 or 2 chapters left to go. I have so many fics in this fandom started and need to finish them.

Lucifer ate his burger with as much pleasure and enthusiasm as he does nearly everything else, Dan decided as his new partner, Charlotte and Ella joined him around his small table for a late lunch. They could have actually gone out, but Lucifer wouldn’t hear of it when he realised just how much paperwork actually accumulated if you weren’t a workaholic like Chloe was.

Dan never bothered calling Lucifer in on slow days which was nothing but paperwork. He knew from Chloe’s fussing before that Lucifer didn’t do paperwork. He did like to have him join him for lunch though, along with his girlfriend. Ella joined in whenever she felt like it and wasn’t busy with her own work.

It was becoming a thing. Also, he found it kind of funny how Charlotte sometimes mothered Lucifer and his partner’s reactions to it. 

Charlotte was eating a carton of noodles, Ella had a sandwich and Dan had joined Lucifer with the burger. It was odd how comfortable he felt with this small set up, as he had always hated having Chloe join him for lunch when they had been married. Well, sometimes he enjoyed it, but most of the time it annoyed him. 

He spent all his home time with Chloe, he had not wanted to spend his working day with her as well. It was one of the signs he was now sure meant that their marriage was failing.

He always enjoyed lunch and dinner and every bit of time he could get with Charlotte, even if that sometimes meant extra time with Lucifer. 

“You know, things are so much more peaceful now that Lucifer no longer works with Chloe,” Ella stated, before taking a bite out of her sandwich.

Lucifer swallowed and almost choked when he tried to laugh at the same time. “Ow! And yes, it is. You know, she would call me in to sit around her table looking pretty but bored while she did paperwork? Why would she do that when I wasn’t needed? She does know that working here is just a hobby for me, right? I do have an actual business to run. Lux is doing a lot better now I have switched over to Dan as a partner, as I am not spending all day here and can actually do things that need to be done for running the club. It’s nice.”

Dan frowned and put his burger down for a moment to stare openly at Lucifer. “Man, if she was such a bother, why did you say yes to coming in?”

Lucifer grinned back at him, but the look came across as sad, not happy or amused. “Daniel, you know Chloe. If I had said no, what do you think would have happened?”

Dan grimaced at that and went back to his burger. He knew exactly what would have happened. Chloe would have gone on a rant loud enough to wake the dead until Lucifer would have shown up to do absolutely nothing just to get her to shut up. 

Lucifer nodded at him, when it was clear he understood what that meant.

“What would have happened?” Charlotte asked, innocently.

“Let’s just say that the Detective is very demanding even at times she shouldn’t be and leave it at that,” Lucifer stated, as diplomatically as possible. 

“Yeah, Chloe is very loud when Lucifer didn’t jump to her every single command. It was why I stayed away. She was so jealous of other girls being anywhere near Lucifer it was to protect him as much as to protect me from her rampage,” Ella added on, finishing off her sandwich and leaning back. “Now I can spend lunch with all of you and have fun and not have to worry if I will be yelled at for wanting lunch with friends.”

Lucifer nodded enthusiastically at that. “That is true. Unfortunately.”

Dan rolled his eyes. “Did you know Chloe wasn’t even aware that the two of you hung out with each other when she wasn’t around, because you kept it so well hidden from her? And this isn’t even about sex, it’s about friendship. When you have to hide your friends from someone there’s a problem. She did the same when we were married. I had to get rid of one partner because I couldn’t stand the fights. And then she wondered why, when I got a male partner I spent all my time at work.”

Charlotte leaned into his side, as Lucifer patted the shoulder closest to him. 

“It’s weird how she was never jealous of any men but the Lieutenant.” Lucifer stated, a grin widening on his face.

Ella laughed and slapped him on the back. “Been thinking sexy thoughts there, Dan?”

Dan choked on his burger at that. After he had stopped coughing, he glared at her. “No. Even if I was into men, Lucifer wouldn’t be my type.”

Lucifer pouted at that. “Daniel, I am hurt. I am everyone’s type.”

They all laughed at that, only to stop once Lieutenant Pierce shouted out for Decker to get in his office. Lucifer winced at his side and got up. “Well, I will leave you three to your day. I am going back to Lux as I don’t want to be here when she gets out of that meeting...”

Understanding completely why Lucifer wanted nothing to do with a pissed off Chloe looking for an excuse to lash out at someone, he nodded. “Yeah sure. I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch.”

Nodding at him, Lucifer then went on to hug the girls, before leaving as fast as he could.

Ella shook her head. “It’s a shame things went the way they did.”

Charlotte shrugged. “Honestly, I barely knew her anyway.”

Dan sighed. “Something like this was bound to happen eventually. It broke our relationship up. But let’s not talk about this anymore. Happy thoughts.”

They all fell into silence, before Ella brightened. “I got a text from Maze. She will be back in town tomorrow. Girls’ night out at Lux?”

Charlotte brightened at that. “Am I officially being invited into the Tribe?”

Ella grinned widely. “I don’t see why not. Chloe was kicked out by Maze who was happy she never went all the way and made it a blood oath, like she originally wanted. We did promise to do that, but it never panned out.”

Charlotte blinked at that. “She must have taken it very seriously. I don’t think she would have sworn an oath otherwise, whether it was fulfilled or not. And I am grateful to accept the invitation. I will join you, Maze and Linda at the club.”

Dan pouted at the two girls making plans for the next night, glad it wasn’t taking away from the weekend for him, as that was their date night. “Well, you two have fun. I will likely be here, finishing paperwork. You know, I am still working through this damn backlog from when I was upgraded back to being partnered and not the joke of the precinct.”

“Speaking of jokes, incoming pissed off Chloe,” Ella stated, before hopping off the chair she was sitting in. “I got to get back to work. See you two later.”

Dan sighed and nodded. “Yeah, see you later.”

Charlotte leaned over and gave Ella a brief hug, before the forensic scientist walked off towards her lab.

Charlotte picked up her carton of noodles again and begun eating what was left. He dropped what was left of his burger and stared at it. “I think maybe I should have given the rest of my food to Lucifer. He would have been happy with that. I’m just not that hungry right now.”

Charlotte eyed the little that was left, before taking it from him and taking a bite. She let out a hum of contentment. “I’ll take it then. No need to call Lucifer back in. He’s long gone.”

Grinning, he nodded before he took a deep breath and looked over to where Chloe was now standing by his side.

“Dan, do you know where Lucifer went?” his ex asked.

He blinked. “He went back to Lux as far as I know. Why?”

Chloe frowned. “Why did he even come in today if he was just going to muck around for lunch?”

Dan frowned at her. “Because he likes coming in for lunch so he doesn’t spend all day cooped up doing club stuff? I don’t know, you’d have to ask him why he said yes when Charlotte invited him to join us for lunch today.”

“Mmm, he brought in burgers for the boys. That boy can be so sweet sometimes. I told him I already had my lunch.” With that, Charlotte held up the now empty carton of noodles, before throwing it in the trash.

Chloe’s frown vanished, as she nodded. “Okay. I’ll go to Lux and speak to him there, then.” 

Dan sighed as he looked down at the pile of paperwork he had accumulated and nodded. “Well, while you do that, I have this backlog to go through.”

“And that is my cue to leave, myself!” Charlotte stated, getting up off the chair she had been sitting in beside him. “Bye sweetie. See you Saturday night?”

He grinned. “Yeah, sure. Saturday sounds good. Enjoy tomorrow night.”

“Oh, I will,” she replied with a grin, before giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Goodbye Chloe. Hope whatever you need to talk to Lucifer gets sorted out.”

Chloe smiled at his girlfriend. “Sure, I hope so too. Bye Charlotte.”

As he watched his girlfriend walking away, he sighed before looking back to the work he still had. He checked his watch. Only 45 minutes for lunch. Most of that actually spent waiting for Lucifer to show up with food. Still at least he had a bit of a break. He got up off his seat and stretched. He still had 15 minutes left before he really had to go back to paperwork. He turned to Chloe and shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I am going for a walk. I could walk you to your car?”

Chloe smiled at him. “Sure! We haven’t really talked much since the fight, have we?”

He shook his head. “Not really. Been busy. Now I have actual cases to do, I am stuck with twice the load of paperwork until the last of the old files are done.”

Chloe gave him a look of sympathy. “I’m sorry. I feel like Lucifer was just unfairly handed to you with no say whatsoever. I know he’s a lazy ass when it comes to paperwork.”

Dan grimaced. “Well, he does really hate the paperwork side of everything, that is definitely true. Mostly I have him come in when there’s footwork and interrogations to do. I gave up trying to get him doing paperwork before the point even came up.”

Chloe rolled his eyes. “I wish he would just do the damn work when he should.”

Dan shrugged. “Honestly, it doesn’t really bother me. I’m used to having to do that on my own now. He would also likely muck everything up and it’s all in order right now.”

Chloe grinned at that. “Oh yeah, he really would. Well, I better go talk to him about something so enjoy what is left of your break.”

Leaving her by the door outside, since her car was parked pretty close to the entrance, he watched her as she drove off, before turning around and going back to his desk.

At least things between him and Chloe weren’t imploding, even if things were a bit awkward now. Chloe was not someone anyone wanted angry at them.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Decker, my office now!” Lieutenant Pierce shouted from his office, making her wince in her seat.

Getting up, she wondered what it was she had done wrong this time. It always seemed to be her getting into trouble since the Lucifer incident. It was like suddenly she could do nothing right.

It was annoying, but at least she finally had another partner in Fern Ryan. Her new partner’s record was impeccable, which meant she would be a good fit, if she pulled her weight. So far, she wasn’t as good as Lucifer in interrogations but at least the paperwork was less of a chore.

She made her way to the office door, knocked shortly, before poking her head in. Ryan was in there, standing in font of Pierce’s desk, hands behind her back. Frowning, wondering what this was about, she entered the room and joined her partner at the desk.

“Lieutenant? You wanted to see me?”

“Detective Ryan here tells me that she is having problems with being your partner,” Pierce stated, staring at her as if it was somehow her fault that Ryan didn’t play to her standards. 

She frowned in confusion. “Sir? I don’t see how that would be possible. We’ve only been working together a week. We’ve had one case.”

Pierce stared harder at her and she squirmed on her feet. She hated feeling like she was nothing and no one could make her feel like that than this latest lieutenant. 

“Apparently one is too much.”

She blinked at that and looked to Ryan. “Okay, what did I do that made you feel like that?” she asked her new partner. Would she ever stop thinking of Ryan as Lucifer’s replacement? Lucifer was perfect for her, except for the no paperwork and his general attitude towards other people. 

Ryan crossed her arms and glared. “Maybe it is you trying to micromanage me, Decker. Stop trying to control me.”

She blinked at that. “Um, I’m not?”

Ryan kept up the glare and her arms tightened around her chest. “Yes, you are. I can understand why you can’t keep a partner. Even Lucifer who bent over backwards to please you couldn’t stand it for long.”

She flinched at hearing that. She was sure she didn’t micromanage. After all that was something that only bosses did to their employees. If anything, Pierce should be the micromanager in this scenario. “How do I micromanage you?”

Ryan lifted up a hand and began listing off on her fingers things she had supposedly done.

“You criticize my paperwork, because it doesn’t look as neat as yours. You stand over my shoulder as I do it as if seeing if I am writing up the exact right thing for your eyes to see. You constantly have to drive everywhere, because you don’t trust other people to drive you to and from scenes, even if it means wasting time and driving out of the way when it comes time to go home. You try to scare people into confessing, like you’re trying to be Lucifer or something. Lady, you aren’t Lucifer. You aren’t close to Lucifer. And I’m not him either. Stop treating me like a child who can’t do anything without someone looking over their shoulder and let me do my damn job the way I have been doing it, and well I might add, for years!”

Chloe’s jaw dropped at hearing Ryan’s complaint, because surely she wasn’t that bad. She turned her gaze to her lieutenant. “I don’t think I am doing that. I need a partner though, I don’t want to be on desk duty or going to Dan’s old job. Please...”

Pierce crossed his arms (and boy did Chloe look down to watch those muscles move under his skin. She totally had a thing for Marcus’s muscles...) “One more complaint and I will be transferring Ryan somewhere else. She’s a good detective, Decker, and you’re holding her back with how you operate.”

Her shoulders slumped at hearing that and she swore she would change that so she wouldn’t go back to being totally shunned by everyone in the precinct once again. “Okay, I will be better, I promise.” She turned back to her partner, who was still frowning at her from where she stood at attention beside her. “I swear I will try to be better.”

Ryan rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’ll believe that when it actually happens, Decker. Permission to leave, sir.”

“Permission granted Ryan. Go and do some good work.”

With a quick nod, Ryan exited the room as fast as she could without looking like she was running away. It hurt Chloe more than she thought it would. Did she really do that? She wasn’t aware of it. Is that what scared Lucifer away? She knew he had a thing about being controlled.

“I honestly didn’t know...” she stated out loud as she stared at the lieutenant, hoping he saw the truth in her words.

“Whether or not you noticed it isn’t the point. The point is you did it and it is ruining your chances of holding a partner. Now you know, you need to stop.”

She looked down to the ground and nodded her head. “Yes sir.”

He sighed and pointed at the door. “Now get out of here and go try and keep yourself out of trouble. If she comes in here complaining about your behaviour like this again, I don’t care how much you don’t want it, you’ll be designated Espinoza’s last job.”

With a shudder, she nodded. “Yes sir.”

With that she left, now feeling like a fool. She didn’t like feeling like a fool, but at least she hadn’t been demoted. She had been worried that she would be. So, she had to work on watching what she was doing around Ryan but things were actually looking up. With luck she could get Fern into a position where she wouldn’t want to rat her out.

She did however feel like she had to speak to Lucifer and see if it was the same thing that drove him away from her and into Dan’s arms.

Speaking of, she had seen him at Dan’s desk eating lunch with Dan, Ella and Charlotte. She was disappointed she was not invited into their little group lunches, but with how Lucifer was avoiding her, that made sense. Once she left Pierce’s office, she immediately noticed that it was now just Charlotte and Dan. She looked around to see if she could spot Lucifer but no luck.

Damn it, she really needed to speak to her ex partner.

* * * * * * * * *

After she had talked to Dan and Charlotte and had been escorted to the doors by Dan who had been sitting for far too long, she found her car, got in and decided to go to Lux. If Lucifer wasn’t here, he was likely to be doing something club related.

What she wasn’t expecting was to not be accepted in right away. Lucifer had set it up very shortly after they had started working together that she could just go right in. This time though, the bouncer at the door held out his arm and stopped her walking by him. “Sorry miss, you’re barred.”

She stared at the bouncer and blinked. “Do you know who I am?!”

The bouncer (she had no idea what his name was) stared down at her. “Detective Chloe Jane Decker. Barred from entry.”

Her jaw dropped open at that. Surely whatever had scared him off hadn’t been so bad he would stop her entering altogether? How was she supposed to talk to him in private now? “Umm, okay, can you tell him I am here and need to speak to him?”

The bouncer raised a hand to his ear where a wire must be. “Detective Decker here to see Lucifer. She says she needs to talk to him. Hold.” With that said, the bouncer turned his gaze back to her. “What about?”

Sighing and not wanting to get fully into it on the side of the road, thankful it was the middle of the day and not club hours so there wasn’t a line of people watching her being humiliated. “Tell him it is about my behaviour lately.”

The bouncer nodded once, “Get that?”

She had to wait a good two minutes, before she got an answer. With a nod, the bouncer gestured her to the side of the building. “Sit and wait. He will be down shortly.”

She blinked at that. “Wait, he’s coming out here? I can’t go in?”

“Detective Chloe Jane Decker, barred from entry.”

She had never felt more rejected in her life. Even after she finally figured out what the problem probably was that drove Lucifer away, she is still having to wait on him outside, sitting down on the dirty side of the club to wait for him to get his ass out here and speak to her. Why did Lucifer always have to make things so hard for her?

She might lose her detective rank because of him. The job she had been trying to get for ages and was thankful she hadn’t lost because of the Palmetto case.

Thankfully, she wasn’t waiting for very long before Lucifer came out the club via the front door she was sitting beside. He was dressed in the same suit he had been in when he had left the precinct, so at least she doubted he was off having sex. That was something at least. She hated how much of a slut he was and was going to try and curb that deplorable behaviour in him.

“Yes, Chloe?” Lucifer asked, and it said a lot that his use of her actual name had her blinking and confused.

“I just wanted to say sorry. I just found out that I am probably micromanaging people during work and I know how much you hate being controlled.”

Lucifer looked at her. “Yes, okay, and?”

She frowned in confusion at that. “And what? Isn’t that why you stopped being my partner? Because I tried to control you?”

Lucifer let out a short, sharp bark of laughter. “Why, Chloe, no it isn’t. I did hate it, because I loathe being turned into something I am not. But that isn’t the reason I stopped working with you.”

She scowled. “Then what is it? And why aren’t you calling me Detective any longer? I liked being called Detective. It’s what I am used to coming from you.”

He tilted his head slightly to one side and looked down at her. “You lost the right to that title the moment you couldn’t figure out a very easy puzzle. If you can’t find out what you did wrong to make me leave, even after I have already told you the reason why, then you don’t deserve to be called Detective.”

And it was like she had been shot in the chest with a vest on. Her breath left her in a rush at the words he had just spoken. Surely he didn’t mean that. She had prided herself for so long on being the best detective L.A had. “What’s that supposed to mean?!” she asked, not sure if she wanted an answer.

“Well, _Detective_ ,” and he said that word like it was the furthest thing she actually was, “I would say that until you actually listen to others you have lost the right to your title. If that is all Chloe, I have a club to get ready for tonight. I also have a bachelorette party to organise for tomorrow night.”

He turned to go and walk away from her and before she could stop herself she reached out a hand and grabbed his shoulder. “Why don’t you talk to me properly?”

He shrugged off her hand and turned to look at her. She thought he might be angry with her, but instead he looked sad and exhausted. “Why would I talk to someone I can’t trust. That’s the reason I stopped being your partner and you are banned from the club. I don’t trust you. I can’t trust you. And if I can’t trust you personally, I do not trust you with my club, my employees or my clientele. Go back to work, Chloe. Enjoy your new partner.”

And Chloe’s heart sank in her chest. “She got me in trouble with Pierce. If she complains one more time she will be transferred and I will be doing Dan’s old job. I don’t want that. If she gets transferred will you at least think of going back to being my partner.”

Lucifer shook his head. “Chloe, I never thought I would say this, but I have a good thing going with Daniel. I get more time with my club, which is important to me. I don’t feel like I have to drop everything to run to his side every time the phone rings and he is on the other end of the line. I’m happier now working with Detective Douche than I ever was with you. You make me miserable, Chloe. And I am done feeling like that.”

The thing that made her let him turn his back and walk back into his club was how he had called Dan a Detective instead of her, even if he did still call Dan a douche along with it.

She walked back to her car, got in and drove to the beach house her mom had let her into once again. The numbness stayed inside her until she reached her bedroom. She flopped herself onto her bed and cried.

How did her life fall to pieces so fast?

The last thought that went through her head as she began falling into an emotionally exhausted sleep was that everything was Lucifer’s fault.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Blanket Burrito](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15617721) by [shadowolfhunter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowolfhunter/pseuds/shadowolfhunter)




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